The Duplex Planet is a zine edited and published by David Greenberger since 1979. It contains transcriptions of his interviews with elderly residents of senior centers and "meal sites" in the Massachusetts area. For many years, the zine focused on the residents of the Duplex Nursing Home, located in Boston.
The Duplex Planet has subsequently found larger audiences in other forms — which are all derived from the original template — including book collections, spoken-word recordings, and a series of concerts. A series of personal commentaries drawn from Greenberger's experiences with this body of work has aired regularly on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered".
Some of the Duplex Nursing Home residents, all identified by name, became recurring characters in the zine and its various offshoots and adaptations.
Background
In 1979, having just completed a degree in fine arts as a painter, Greenberger took a job as activities director at the Duplex Nursing Home. On his first day, he met the residents of the nursing home and abandoned painting in favor of conversation. "This is my art," he said.[citation needed] In this unexpected setting, Greenberger found an unusual medium and a desire to portray the people he met as living human beings instead of "just repositories of their memories or the wisdom of the ages."[1] Instead of collecting oral history about significant events, Greenberger focused on talking one-on-one with ordinary people about ordinary things — the joy of a close shave[2] or answers to questions like "Can you fight city hall?"[3]
Recurring "characters"
Many of the elderly people interviewed in Duplex Planet appeared regularly in the pages of the zine, and collaborated directly with Greenberger. They include:
1001 Real Apes (2006), a theatrical presentation, features monologues drawn from the pages of The Duplex Planet, with music composed and performed by the critically acclaimed instrumental ensemble Birdsongs of the Mesozoic.
Selections from the comic were published in a trade paperback, No More Shaves: A Duplex Planet Collection (ISBN1560972572), in 2003.
Exhibits
"An Exact Spectacular", an exhibit of drawings and sculptures by some of the magazine's subjects, beginning in 1994, has traveled to museums and colleges.
